A day in Bohol

Caught a 6am ferry to take me on a 2 hour journey to Bohol.  Here are some sights on the countryside tour.

Chocolate Hills: Possible one of the seven natural wonders in Asia.

Farmer.

Butterfly sanctuary.

Tarsiers: the smallest primate in the world.

Loboc river cruise.

Sunset.

SU-TU-KIL

“sugba, tinola, kinilaw” which translates to grill, stew and eat raw, a fresh seafood dining experience in Cebu.  shrimp, squid, fish- grilled, fried, soup.  yum.

Whale Sharks: the largest fish in the sea

John Ed, Penny and I took a trip 3 hours south of Cebu City to see the whale sharks in Oslob.  While it was amazing to see these gigantic creatures, I rate the experience as ok.  Maybe I'm comparing it to my other natural wildlife sightings SCUBA diving and on safari where the settings are not so staged...
Glad to have seen them.  Hoping the local ecotourism sorts out so the ability to see these creatures is preserved for years to come.

Tingko public beach.

View from Bodo's Bamboo Bar in Alcoy.

Launch.  Note the other bancas in the distance where we saw 4-5 whale sharks.

Butikis.

Pool and Foosball at Bodo's.

Crossing my fingers that the pictures on the disposable underwater camera turn out.  Will have to wait until I finish the rest of the roll of film.  That's right, film.

Breaking Dawn

Catch up on the Twilight series and watch the new release.  CHECK.
Twilight.
New Moon.
Eclipse.
Breaking Dawn Part 1.
Breaking Dawn Part 2.

Gobble, gobble

Happy Thanksgiving from Cebu.
Thankful for a year of change, a chance to travel, reestablished friendships, new community and a supporting family.

Thanks Joanna for a delicious turkey (recipe a la Auntie Tinna).

"It's More Fun in the Philippines"

Cebu City with the Wu's.

View from the house.

Santo Nino Basilica.

View from the 38th floor of the Crown Regency.  Mactan Island is the distance.

Sky Walk on the 37th floor of the Crown Regency with Sky Experience Adventures.  Fuente Osmena Circle down below ready for Christmas.

Ramos Public Market- fresh fish, meat and veggies.

View from Maria Luisa Park.

Goodbye India

I leave India with some lasting memories of the people, culture, food and Freedom Firm.  Thank you to the FF team for the experiences and for showing me the realities of fighting for the end of modern day slavery...Now, on to the Philippines.

Ooty-Bangalore: 7hr 15min car ride
BLR-SIN: 4hr 15min flight (with a 1 hour delay)
SIN-CEB: 3hr 20min flight (after a 2 hour layover)
TOTAL travel time= 17hr 45min

Some sights on the way:

Momos to-go

Elephant transport

Palace of the Maharaja in Mysore

Fruit stand

St Philomena in Mysore

BLR

SIN: all decked out for Christmas

Pitstop for Coconut Water

Once we made it down the mountain from Ooty, there was still 250km to go until we reached Bangalore.  I noticed the unending fields of banana and coconut trees and thought it a perfect time to ask Susai (Freedom Firm driver extraordinaire) if we could stop for coconut water.  He kindly obliged...

Check out the machete

Apparently many others had stopped before us

Rs.20 for a lot of coconut water 

Freshly prepared coconut flesh (which I discovered I don't prefer so gave the rest to Susai)

Mudumalai Tiger Reserve

On the drive from Ooty to Bangalore, we passed through Mudumalai Tiger Reserve (Tamil Nadu) and Bandipur National Park (Karnataka) and was treated with a quick safari running into monkeys, mongoose, elephants, wild boar and some deer.  Unfortunately, no tigers, leopards or black panthers...probably because it was mid-day and the sun was blazing.

Lasting influence of the Brits in Ooty

Here are some shots of the architecture in and around Ooty showing lasting influence from the days when the British ruled.

Inside St Stephen's church- oldest church in the Nilgiris

Commissioner Road

Advocate office

In front of The Fernhills Palace, previously the summer home of the Maharaja of Mysore

Abandoned horse stables at Fernhills

New people, good fellowship

Here is a glimpse of the community I've had the past week in Ooty:

FF volunteers and my Farley neighbors, Katy and Morgan, who are in Ooty for 3 months.

Mala and fellow U.S. board member Shery.

Teams from WI and NC with the FF staff.

My last Sunday in India

Morning laundry

Union Church Ootacamund

Hindi Bible Study before service

Farmers Market bustling on a Sunday

Beans at the farmers market.

It would feel a bit weird visiting a new country without seeing the inside of a hospital.  But considering this was not a work trip, there was no expectation this would happen.  Unfortunately, one of the missions team members came down with a case of appendicitis and had emergency surgery.  Sunday was spent staying with her in the hospital as she recovered.  All went well.  God is Good. 

Stick Bread

Farley often hosts Hebron (boarding school) dorms on a weekend who rent out the facilities to allow the kids some open fields and activities.  This past week the 12 y/o boys made forts (or dens) and stick bread.  I had never seen stick bread before so I had a go at it...

Dusk

Dough on stick 

Making sure there are no cracks

All around the campfire

While I did make the bread, I opted not to eat it and gave it away.
Stuff with chicken or cheese.  Or cover with honey or chocolate.  Yum.